‘Calling ISIL Atrocities Against the Yezidis by Their Rightful Name’: Do They Constitute the Crime of Genocide?

Abstract

In March 2016, both the US House of Representatives and Secretary of State John Kerry designated the alleged crimes committed by ISIL against, inter alia, the Yezidis, a small religious minority in Iraq and Syria, as ‘genocide.’ This article examines the evidence for this designation as emerges from various human rights reports and other publicly available sources, to assess whether ISIL’s actions against the Yezidis may be legally characterized as the crime of genocide. The article finds that, while ISIL’s actions against the Yezidis in Iraq and Syria may constitute the underlying acts of the crime of genocide, on the basis of information currently available in the public domain, it is not possible to reach a view on whether individuals perpetrators had the dolus specialis necessary to commit the crime of genocide. The article, however, outlines a pattern of conduct which could indicate a genocidal plan.